THEY’RE the city’s favourite band and they’re about to play a very special home date as part of their latest tour.

Southampton rock duo Band of Skulls celebrate their tenth anniversary with a gig at one of the city’s most historic but underrated venues.

The band will play Central Hall on April 11, launching new album Love Is All You Love at midnight that night.

They are one of the biggest bands to play the 800-seater venue in decades.

Built by the Methodist church in 1925 the St Mary’s Street hall was designed for entertainment and wellbeing - home to a cinema, a rickets clinic and a poor man’s lawyer when it was first built.

It was then used as a morgue during World War II.

In its time it has hosted world renowned evangelical preachers like Billy Graham, while footballer-turned conspiracy theorist David Icke held an event there last year.

But now the venue, which is owned by New Community church, is set take on a new lease of life with a recently acquired alcohol licence. And managers are on a mission to bring in bigger acts to the building, which hosts a church congregation of more than 300 every Sunday.

Speaking to the Echo, Band of Skulls said the venue was the inspiration for the rest of their tour, which will see them play in cities across the country in venues just as iconic.

Bassist Emma Richardson said: “It’s an epic place. Southampton has got loads of beautiful venues but we wanted to find something different.”

The new album will be released at midnight on the night of the gig – meaning the audience will hear new songs from it live first.

Emma and Russell will be joined by Eagles of Death Metal drummer Julian Dorio as he temporarily replaces former founder member Matt Hayward, who left the band two years ago.

Emma and Russ say the new album was a pared-down experience, with one less member involved in the decision-making process.

Russell said: “We can get to an idea quicker now – it’s a quicker process. The ideas are more concentrated when there are less people. We have been working on this for the last year or so – and it’s all culminating in this room [at Central Hall].”

Church pastor Theo Amer said: “We’re excited. We want to open the Hall up to more mainstream audiences. We bought the building in the early 1990s.

“There was always a holistic community around the building so we revived it. There’s a school based here and a basics bank and we run creative English classes for people with English as second language.

“It’s got a lot of possibility.”